This photograph shared by Indian navy on the X platform shows a firefighting team from Indian Navy vessel INS Kolkata responding to a fire on Liberian-flagged Merchant ship MSC Sky II caused due to a suspected drone/missile attack in the Gulf of Aden. Photo / AP
This photograph shared by Indian navy on the X platform shows a firefighting team from Indian Navy vessel INS Kolkata responding to a fire on Liberian-flagged Merchant ship MSC Sky II caused due to a suspected drone/missile attack in the Gulf of Aden. Photo / AP
A missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden has killed two of its crew members.
It forced survivors to abandon the vessel on Wednesday, officials said, in the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack on the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence further escalates the conflict on a crucial maritime route linking Asia and the Middle East to Europe that has disrupted global shipping.
The Houthis have launched attacks since November, and the US and UK began an airstrike campaign in January that so far hasn’t halted their attacks.
Meanwhile, Iran announced it would confiscate a $50 million cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp aboard a tanker it seized nearly a year earlier. It is the latest twist in a years-long shadow war playing out in the Middle East’s waterways even before the Houthi attacks began.
The attack on the True Confidence came after it had been hailed over radio by men claiming to be the Yemeni military, officials said. The Houthis have been hailing ships over the radio in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since beginning their attacks, with analysts suspecting the rebels want to seize the vessels.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as they didn’t have authorisation to speak publicly, said the anti-ship ballistic missile attack killed two of the crew members on board and wounded six others.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We continue to watch these reckless attacks with no regard for the wellbeing of innocent civilians who are transiting through the Red Sea. And now they have, unfortunately and tragically, killed innocent civilians.”
The full extent of the damage to the Liberian-owned ship remained unclear, but the crew abandoned the ship and deployed lifeboats.
A US warship and the Indian navy were on the scene, trying to assist in rescue efforts.
Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a pre-recorded message, saying its missile fire set the vessel ablaze. He said the rebels’ attacks would only stop when the “siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza is lifted”.
The rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war, but up till now hadn’t killed any crew members.
The vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory.
Despite more than a month and a half of US-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels have remained capable of launching significant attacks.
They include the attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertiliser, the Rubymar, which sank after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
It was unclear why the Houthis targeted the True Confidence. However, it was previously owned by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based fund that finances vessels on instalments.
Meanwhile, a separate Houthi assault apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels.
The Carney shot down bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, the US military’s Central Command said. Saree acknowledged that attack as well.
The US later launched an airstrike destroying three anti-ship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, the Central Command said.
The Houthis haven’t offered any assessment of the damage they’ve suffered in the American-led strikes that began in January, though they’ve said at least 22 of their fighters have been killed. One civilian has reportedly been killed.
This photograph shared by Indian navy on the X platform shows a firefighting team from Indian Navy vessel INS Kolkata responding to a fire on Liberian-flagged Merchant ship MSC Sky II caused due to a suspected drone/missile attack in the Gulf of Aden. Photo / AP
The US Treasury separately announced new sanctions targeting a Houthi financier and the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which arms the rebels.
The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. They’ve battled a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a long-stalemated war there.
Meanwhile, the Indian navy released a video of its sailors from the INS Kolkata fighting a fire aboard the MSC Sky II, which had been targeted by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden on Monday.
The Mediterranean Shipping Co, a Switzerland-based company, said the missile struck the ship as it was travelling from Singapore to Djibouti. No one was injured.
